I'm just so tired by Friday's. The middle of the week is so hectic television review wise, that by the time the weekend rolls around I'm tired. I did have a productive Friday already though. Wrote my assigned music review for over at Blogcritics. It's in the que now. Also submitted the flash fiction piece I had out a contest. Results came in, and competition was extremely tough, so I didn't make it. Sent the flash to a new erotic e-zine premiering next month. See how that goes.
I've been trying to keep up on the coverage of the fires in Southern California. I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, so I know just where the fire is. I used to look up into those hills every day of my early years. It seems there is so much tragedy the last month. Two hurricanes and now the fires. I hope things settle down. When things keep happening, I actually told my brother that it looked like we made God mad because all these horrible things are happening right now. I just hope people don't lose homes, and all this horrible stuff eases up a bit on us. It isn't just here, but elsewhere in the world too.
I think I'm starting to ease into the schedule I've created for myself. Most of my time is spent in promotion or writing for my review site. The more heavily I promote that, the more hits I think I will get over to my Media Village stuff. I was telling my friend yesterday that most of work now is promotion. Then during prime time I am watching television and reviewing the shows. Keeps me busy.
Hope you're all doing well. Have a wonderful day everyone.
179. Another Friday
178. You know you're a dingbat when ...
This entry might be a bit short since time has just seemed to gotten away from me. Right after I posted my blog yesterday, I went to set my VCR to record my Wednesday night shows. Well, my VCR died a quick death, and I had to borrow one from my neighbor next door just for the night. I also record my shows in case I miss something or something happens here when the show is airing. I want to write the best reviews I can.
Well, today we went to pick up a new VCR, and I get up to the register to only find out I left my wallet at home. I had checked my purse for it and it was in there, but when I moved from keys out from one pocket to the other, I somehow pulled my wallet out and left it on my desk. I had to go back home, grab ,y wallet and go back to pay for the VCR and a few other items I picked up. i hardly ever do things like that, so I was worried it had been stolen. Good thing I found it.
After I returned home and I was finishing the VCR set-up, one of my friends that had been a bit MIA the past week called me. Turned out his Internet connection had been down all this week. He'll be back tomorrow it looks like. I was glad to hear from him, and we also tried calling the number we hadfor my friend in Louisiana, but we got the voice mail.
Last night, Lost was so very good. I absolutely love that show so much. There is so many little twists and turns. I have my recap, review, and some theories I have for last night's episode over on my review blog here. I also recapped last night's So You Think You Can Dance as well. Now I watched Invasion last night, and I'm not sure I'm catching onto the show. It just isn't grabbing me very much. That makes me sad cause out of all the new shows that was the show I had the most hope for. Just been a really busy day, and I have a busy night with three shows to watch and reviews to write, so I'm off. Just wanted to check in.
177. Well its good to know I was right!
Yesterday, I mentioned about our car and how it was a case of them saying one thing and then doing another. The person we'd made the agreement had filed the paperwork for us, and the agreement was in place. However, her supervisor blocked it going through without telling her. With the agreement, they should not have taken the car the way they did. The woman we were working with even said this. She went to work on trying to get our car back to us. Giving us a list of information to be faxed in. We hang up, and start to gather the requested information. Well, not even five minutes later they call back! Well, she does. She had gone to talk to her supervisor about the apparent lack of communication, and he said sure we can have the car back now if we pay off the rest of loan left on it right now. A figure in the thousands. Well, that won't be happening. Good to know the woman we had originally spoke to a couple of weeks ago had followed through on what she said she would. Still doesn't help us here, but at least not everyone at the bank is evil.
In world news, I keep following the events surrounding the hurricanes. Seems the former FEMA director has had some words to say about why he was let go. He blames it all on a blog. Yes, a blog just like the one I'm writing in here. Apparently a blog on one site, Horsesass.org made some statements that weren't all too favorable about the man, and those statements were picked up by the media, and spread like wildfire, so more time was spent fielding calls about the untrue statements rather than actually working on the disaster efforts. Nice way to pass the buck.
It seems with more and more blogs comes the way blogs and bloggers seem to be creating the news. They don't make things up, but they are usually the first ones out there when news breaks. They then return home to their computers, and report what happened. I think this trend will only intend to grow. I think we all know what a big mess we had when Katrina hit. We faired better with Rita, but things still happened. People lost homes and lives in the areas affected. So much devastation, and with the hurricane season not quite over it could happen all over again. It seems a lot of people are pointing fingers of blame this way and that way. Our focus shouldn't be on who did what wrong. It should be on helping those affected here. such tragedy just breaks my heart, and I know my family has lost a car just this week, but I still have a home over my head, food to eat, my health and the health of those in my family around me. I'm very fortunate, and I know the problems my family is having will clear up in a few weeks time. Some will take months and years to rebuild what they lost.
In TV news, I have updated the links to my weekly recaps on my sidebar. You'll find links to recaps of Bones, Surface, Supernatural, Real World: Austin and Grey's Anatomy or you can just hop on over to the main site here. Tonight we have So You Think You Can Dance, Lost's episode titled "Adrift" and the second episode of Invasion which I will be taking a look at it. Also over on my Thoughts from the couch, I pick my three favorites of the new shows this season so far. Hop on over there to check that out.
In odd television news, it appears the wedding that supposedly took place over the weekend between Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher might have a been a stunt for his show Punk'd. Weird indeed. Reps have denied the rumor, but they haven't come out and confirmed the marriage either. Strange. Read more by clicking the link above.
I'm off! Have a wonderful day everyone.
176. You know a day is bad when ...
You're not even fully awake for a minute, and the day has already gone downhill. Woke up around 10:30 this morning to let the cat out of prison - aka my bedroom. Heard water running in the bathroom. Brother had a doctor appointment at 10am so either he missed it, or someone broke in and wanted to wash up first! Yes, I know not funny, but I'm trying to find the humor in this day. My dad opens the bathroom door, and I blink a couple of times because he works the 5am and 1pm. He looks at me, "Our car is gone."
WELL ... isn't that wonderful. We'd been having some problems the last few months, but we'd just talked to the bank last week, and everything had been straightened out. Or so we thought. They wanted us to send in a payment this week, and we were about to but then they took the car. Which I don't understand, but what can you do? They said one thing and did another. Just puts dad in a bit of a bind now. Things are a bit stressful, but everything else had been fixed in the last month, and we thought that included the car. Like I said definitely a case of them saying one thing and doing another. Lovely.
In the stress of the moment, I had a small accident, and somehow twisted wrong, so now my side hurts. If I move around too much it hurts. No bruising but the pain is bad if I move around. Luckily, all I do most of the day is sit here at the computer. Just not the best of days, and my mood is shot to hell. I know I could have it worse. I know things will end up okay. Just for right now, they really aren't. Not much I can do either.
Good news is I'm moving ahead with the additions to For Hire. Although the title will have to change now because it won't work with the new story. Wrote another couple of pages last night. And now I'm going to try to work on the additional scenes for the end tonight. I just need to keep it under 8,000 words because I found a new market for it, and they only take between 5,000 to 8,000. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are big television nights with me. I review three shows each night, so hopefully I won't be too drained. I also have to write the book review for two assignments I've been given, a book review for ERRW and a CD review of a CD I received in the mail a couple of days ago from Blogcritics. Read the book and listened to the CD. I just need to find time to write them up. So yes this is a very busy week for me. I'll get through it. One thing at a time.
Have a wonderful day everyone.
175. Those lovely little R's
Well, I heard back from the e-zine I submitted For Hire too this morning. You've got to love quick turn arounds! And they handed me a rejection. Also offered me some suggestions on how to improve the story. They felt it was incomplete. I mentioned the best friend in the beginning but not at the end. So they suggested a scene with the best friend at the end to wrap up the story. I scratched my head for a bit. The best friend really wasn't the focus of the story. He was just the catalyst to get Caleb to call the escort service for the night of passion.
Then an idea came to me. What if Caleb and the best friend ended up together following Caleb's one night with the hooker? It's a bit of a twist, and I think I know how to work it. The additions and the changes will probably end up taking it out of the word count for the e-zine I submitted it to. Which means finding a new market for it. A higher word count and the added romance twist would probably make it more marketable. Might mean another sex scene between the best friend and Caleb. The rejection did mention I wrote a great sex scene.
So I started to work on the additions a bit, and I'm going to work on them this week some more. I want to work on them a bit now, so I'm going to cut this a bit short. I also have an entry to write for over at my MV blog. Then tonight is Surface. Great show. Busy Mondays!
Good news is my best friend checked in from Louisiana. She can't return home yet, but the good news she has a home to come back to. Her family stayed behind, and they are there cleaning up things. Her back door is gone, but her mom and dog made it through. That's the good news. I was worried.
Have a wonderful day everyone.
174. Getting over the fear
What fear? The fear of submitting. We all have it. That lingering writer doubt if this story is good enough for someone out there to bite. Every writer goes through this with each submission. I finished For Hire about a month ago. Put it through workshop at the end of August, and I finally submitted it last night. Things have been crazy this month, so editing and proofing took a bit longer than I planned. However WD and fear also took part in the length of time I took from work shopping to submission. however, it is emailed out, and I've heard the publication I submitted to has a good response time. So I'm hoping to hear back soon.
It's Sunday, so I'm watching football. Nothing beats a Sunday in fall with a game on the tube and a beer in your hand. I don't drink all that much, but I'll grab a beer before one of the games on Sunday. This week, I watched my Cardinals get beat after my team's quarterback, Kurt Warner, suffered a groin injury. I also have him as the quarterback on my fantasy football team, so that really hurt. I'll have to keep an eye on his status this week to see if he's able to play next Sunday.
Sunday's are usually lazy for me, so I don't have much to say. My brain is practically fried by the time the weekend rolls around these days. I do have a new movie review over on my review blog of I, Robot, and tonight is Grey's Anatomy. I also wrote a short response to prompt in a fiction community, and that is posted over on fiction blog here. I still haven't heard from my friend near the Lake Charles area. I keep going back to watch the coverage, and it looks bad. I really hope she is able to check in soon.
Have a wonderful evening everyone.
173. The quiet
I love when its peaceful and quiet. I get more done. I focus better. I write more. Has it ever been too quiet though? Not the lack of noise so much as the lack of other people around. Online I have a few people I talk to on a regular basis. One evacuated because of Hurricane Rita, and another just hasn't been around the last few days. It is just made things a bit on the quiet side, which I don't mind because I do get things done more, but it is just too quiet.
I was on a natural high yesterday, and the people I wanted to share this the most with just weren't around. I understand why, and I know we'll catch up when they return. I've been busy working on different things. I'm moving ahead with work on my WIP. I still don't have a title for it, but work is moving right along with it slowly but surely. I miss working on Crash into me. I need to get back to that as well. That story was moving right along to, and then I started the paranormal, and things just pushed to the side with Crash.
If I remember correctly, I was right at the sex scene, and I really wasn't feeling all that sexy enough to write two people having sex at the time. Once I was, I had began working on my paranormal. I seem to work on many projects at once, but then pick one to follow through on until I'm drained on it. Then I pick up another project. The trick I need to learn is going back to the WIP's I leave for a bit. I have two in that state. Crash into me which I started in June, and Lonely Street which I started back in December. Both are a good amount in. I just need to find a way to return to them and complete writing them.
The past month things have been crazy with all the stuff with Media Village and my review blog. I am really glad that things seem to be calming down for me. For a bit there, I was getting really stressed. August was stressful too. Both personally and professionally. A lot happened last month, and a lot of the personal affected how I worked professionally. This month I don't have as much hectic personal wise, so I am able to focus on things more. My mood has definitely improved as well. Which is a good thing.
Right now, I'm just really worried about my best friend. Last I heard from her yesterday before the storm hit, she had evacuated to Lafayette, Louisiana, which was also in prime hit zone. She had nowhere else to go. She hitched a spot with her friend. She signed online just to tell us yesterday where she was on her journal. I'm worried. The news last night showed how hard Lake Charles got hit last night, and that is the big city near her town. I really hope her home doesn't suffer much in the way of damage. Please keep my friend Steph in your thoughts and prayers.
I hope you're all well. Be safe and have a wonderful day everyone.
172. A start - great news
While Rita is coming at the gulf coast, my eyes are still watching the coverage. My prayers and thoughts are with those I know in the area. However, I'm personally in a good mood today. My blog over at Media Village is now up! My forums went up last week, but I was waiting for the blog to go up. That happened this morning, and my first entry went live today. So I introduce you to Thoughts from the couch. This will be my sound off place to analyze what is on your television. This will be separate from my review blog - One Couch Critic in which I write detailed recaps and brief reviews. On my Media Village blog, I will talk about news and television shows with more of an analytical eye. What works and what doesn't?
I'm very excited about this, and we all know this has been in the works for most of the month, and now it is happening. I never expected when I started my review blog just three short weeks ago that this would happen. It has, and I think my review blog might have been one of the smartest moves I've ever made in regards to my writing. Within a week of its creation, I was offered this wonderful opportunity. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Blogcritics. I've been writing for that site since March, and I think writing television recaps and reviews for that site as well as my reviews over the summer of Queer as Folk for Gay wired have helped me improve my writing in this area, and now I'm ready to move onto the next step.
I was so very unpatiently for my blog to go up and now that is has I'm bouncing in my seat. Now that the season is mostly underway, I have a better handle on my schedule. I know what nights I watch what, what I recap and the next day I hope to have analysis of the night before up on Media Village. I know Tuesday - Thursday is busy, and I know Friday and Saturday things will be calmer. Sunday and Monday I have one show each that I recap, so those nights aren't as bad.
Since my schedule is also getting more settled, I'm getting back to working on my WIP's. I wrote another two and a half page's last night. Good progress for me. Especially with the week I've had so far. Things have been busy, but not as busy as they were last week. My ghost made his first appearance last night. A brief scene from his point of view as Drew was leaving the house. Aaron is going to a fun character to write, but my main focus will still be on Drew.
Tonight, I'll be watching the second episode of Threshold, and the premiere of Ghost Whisperer. Last night, I recapped ER's premiere and the third episode of The OC's season three. I'm off to bloghop now.
Have a great day everyone.
171. Watching and waiting
Even though I'm nowhere near the gulf coasts, I know of a lot of people that are and my attention is drawn to them now. Two of my long time dear online friends live in the area affected. As far as I know both of them have left their homes now for higher ground. One lives on the Louisiana/Texas border and the other lives in Corpus Christi. I know of another in the Baton Rouge area. Please put them and everyone else in the affected area in your thoughts and prayers. Rita looks even bigger than the one of a few weeks ago, and that scares me to no ends. I keep watching the news. I keep finding myself distracted and not working as I should be. It took me four tries before I was able to sit down. I spent thirty minutes giving the kitten his first nail trim and fitting him with a collar just because.
Early this morning, I was forced to bed early when my Internet connection died. I couldn't get my dial-up to reconnect no matter how I tried. I was talking to my friend in Louisiana at the time, and now it looks like she is gone. This makes me sad, but I'll be talking to her again once things settle down. I even called AOL, and they said they saw no problems in the area. Which was crap because this morning I was able to sign on first thing with only one minor hiccup. I've also noticed since the last restore my computer starts up a bit slower, so I'm going to check into that as well. Computer runs fine, so it might just be nothing to worry about.
With dealing with AOL and all my worrying, I didn't get any work done on my WIP last night. I planned to, but it just wasn't going to happen. Tuesday and Wednesday seem to be my big TV nights. I have three shows each night. Last night I watched and reviewed So You Think You Can Dance, Lost, and Invasion. So You Think You Can Dance has its finale next week, so those will be done. That will leave me with Lost on Wednesdays! I'm not sure about Invasion yet. I'll watch again next week, but I didn't really enjoy the premiere all that much. I could tell by the buzz on the fan boards I was in the minority here, so I'm not sure what it is. I'd been waiting for this show all summer, and I think it just fell short of my expectations. Did anyone else catch Invasion last night? Click the links above to read my reviews.
Tonight we have The OC and the premiere of ER. I love that show more than life, and I've been an avid fan since the show began airing many years ago. I'm really curious about the new cast additions, and to see how things go without Carter. Should be interesting! Following that I plan to work on my WIP some more because upon further reading, I discovered my story is different than the one I'm reading. Unless there is some twist thrown at us later on. This book doesn't appear to have my reincarnation angle. Score!
Hope you're all well. Stay safe and have a wonderful day everyone.
170. The music I love
Once again the eyes of the country have fallen to the gulf coast region. Rita is on her way, and it looks like she might hit the gulf coast as hard as Katrina did. Scary stuff. My best friend is in eastern Louisiana, which just was missed during the last storm. I've once again been glued to my television set as news comes in. I've only turned it to another station now because my favorite band is on Oprah today, Bon Jovi. I am a Bon Jovi fanatic. I've mentioned them here before. Their new CD was released this week, and I'm in love all over again with them and their music. A new release means they are all over my television this week, and if they are on, I pretty much drop whatever I may be doing at the time, and I watch.
I've been a fan of Bon Jovi since I was just a kid, probably nine or ten. Some might even call a bit obsessed, but their music just speaks to me. I have written a review of their latest release, but it isn't posted on my blog yet. I'm saving it for the weekend while I shop it around a site or two for purchase. Their music just speaks to me. The messages behind the lyrics are what keeps me coming. Jon writes all his own lyrics along with Richie and another song writing partner. That is the way its always been. He doesn't write lyrics to sell. He writes them because they are what he feels and believes, and that is what I love about him.
He's real. He's a man just like any other man. He's married to his high school sweetheart, and they have four children. He takes them to school, and he helps people as much as he can. The first one usually to react when something horrible happens in our country. When 9/11 happened, he watched in horror from his backyard just across the bridge from NYC in New Jersey. then he jumped into action. When Katrina happened, he also stood up to help, and he plans to donate the funds that would normally be used to film a music video for a single off this album to Habitat for Humanity in Philiadephia. on today's Oprah, he gave a group of children, a full school wardrobe, a backpack full of school supplies, and laptops from CompUSA. He then handed Oprah a check for one million dollars, so that she could continue her efforts helping with the Hurricane recovery on the gulf coast.
Do you have a band, musician, or actor that you love? Why do you love them? Is it for their skills in their chosen profession or does it go beyond that? Do you love them for the person they are behind their celebrity status? For me, it goes way beyond the music with Bon Jovi. i love him for the man he is, and I love the rest of the group too, but Jon is most in the public eye.
In other news, Tuesday night is a popular television night for me. Last night, I reviewed episodes of Real World Austin, Bones, and Supernatural. Tonight, we have the premieres of Lost and Invasion, and So you think you can dance. Reviews will be up on my review blog of those shows at some time tonight. I also pushed forward with my WIP last night, but more on that tomorrow. I definitely got off track with this entry today. Didn't plan this to be today's focus!
I hope you're all well. have a wonderful day, and those on the gulf coast please stay safe. My thoughts are with you.
169. Uh oh ... doesn't that sound like ...
I'm sure this has happened to every writer at some point. Last night, I began to read my latest book review assignment for the ERRW site, and a few pages in I stopped reading. Not because the story was bad, but because the more I read, the more I saw the eerie similarities between this book and my current WIP. I'd never seen this book before, and I had just opened it to read for the first time last night. I continued reading, and I'm about ten pages in of about 125 for this book. Just from the little I've read the plot is similar, but there are little unique differences to each story. Mine is more internal, and this story seems to depend more on external descriptions than I do. As I read on, the story is really good and well written. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it. See if it keeps up this pace it started at.
However, now I'm playing the what-if game with my own WIP. What if the story I'm writing is too similar to the one that I'm reading? Will this hurt the stories changes at selling? Does my story measure up to the one I'm reading? All these doubts began to fill my mind, and I'm only ten pages into the book I'm reading! Yes, plots are reused over and over. It is up to the writer to make their story stand out and be unique when it comes to how it stacks up to others.
I thought I had an original idea. When I mentioned my idea for my paranormal to others, they all loved it. I'm loving the writing of the story. The basic premise if you recall is a man moves into his new home to find out its haunted by a ghost. Turns out the ghost is a past lover of his in a past life. Things get hot and steamy in some dreams he has, and the ghost basically takes over his every waking thought. I'm hoping this is slightly different from the book I'm currently reading. Yes, I know I can target another publisher when it is complete, and the story can stand on its own. I guess I'm now just a bit worried when it comes to the story. I didn't even work on my WIP like I planned to last night because the similarity threw me off a bit. I'll have to continue reading and see what happens. I'm just playing the doubting diva now, and I hate that. Anyone out there have any thoughts or advice?
In other news, last night I did end up watching and reviewing the new NBC show, Surface. You can check that out on my review blog here. Tonight we have Bones (FOX) and Supernatural (WB) with their second episodes. I'll be watching those. ABC also has the Dancing with the Stars dance-off. I watched and reviewed this show over the summer for blogcritics, so I'll check in, but I probably won't watch the whole thing. The way this was done it almost feels like they set it up this way. If John wins, I definitely would feel that way even more. A ratings ploy by the network when the ABC network doesn't really need it. They have two of the most popular shows on television with Lost and Desperate Housewives. I guess we'll see what happens. I really didn't like the results of the show when it aired. Top that with my other regular weekly review of the Real World: Austin, and I have a busy night ahead of me.
I hope you're all well. I'm off to blog hop now. Have a great day everyone!
168. Feeling a bit sluggish today
Mondays. The start of a new week, and it is usually one of my busiest days. I'm just dragging a bit right now, but I'm still getting things done. Little things are frustrating, but they aren't things I have any control over, so I have to wait for them to be fixed because I can't do anything on my own to fix them. I have to leave it up to someone else. Do you know how hard it is to do that for me? I like knowing things are running smoothly. I'm almost to the point where I'm obsessive compulsive. I can't sleep knowing things aren't exactly as they should be. I'm a worrier by nature, but I am getting better about it I think.
Yesterday, I didn't write at all. I think Sunday's are becoming the day I don't write a word. Not a review or anything in my WIP's. I think it is a good thing to just take a day off and not write unless I have to. I also stayed up until five in the morning again watching another movie on cable. This time it was Hilary Duff's, Raise your Voice, which I had passed on watching when it premiered a week or two ago. I guess something looks more entertaining at 3am in the morning hmm? It wasn't a bad movie. Teen oriented fun, but I seem to have a thing for pop princesses so I ended up watching the entire thing.
On cap for tonight, we have football games, a concert I missed on TV the other night. I totally forgot it was on, and it is of my favorite groups, so i set a reminder this time. Then at 7pm we have the premiere of Surface. The previews for this hooked me, so I'll be watching, and I'll probably have a review up on my other blog tomorrow. Speaking of my other blog, I redid the layout for it yesterday. I got rid of the Blogger template, and put up one I found from a template site. Nice and professional looking, and the comment style is a bit different too, so I might just be missed by the spammers that found me on that blog. Go here to check it out.
Earlier this afternoon, I heard from a friend of mine by email. We've known each other since we were in junior high together, and she is the one that gave me my first romance novel. She writes as well, but she had stopped. Well, today she emailed me to tell me she had started writing again. This makes me happy because she is a wonderful writer. I'm also dealing with a terror kitty today. My oldest cat decide to jump up and attack me as I sat here typing earlier. Now my arm is covered in scratches. Not the best day for me so far. My mood is a bit glum. I'm sure it will improve as the day continues on.
I hope you're having a great day today everyone.
167. New book reviews
Another lazy Sunday. I woke up a bit late today, and none of football teams are on television. The game on later on tonight has one of my fantasy football players, so I'll have to wait for that game to air. I can't even find the Cardinals game on the radio. I live five minutes from the stadium, and they are here playing against the Rams today. As I mentioned last week, the St. Louis Rams is another one of my favorite teams, so seeing them go head to head. One of the main reasons I love the Rams though is now here in Arizona playing with the Cardinals. quarterback Kurt Warner. I just love him, and now he is on my team and playing against his old team today. I wish the game was on TV because it would make an interesting watch.
Speaking of an interesting watch, last night I was getting ready to go to bed, and I have started this habit of catching a few minutes of FOX news before I go to bed. Watch Fox and Friends in the morning, since that is usually what is on at 3-4am in the morning. Well, nothing much was happening there, so I started flipping through stations, and I caught the beginning of Resident Evil: Apocalypse. I'd been wanting to see the movie, and I checked if it would be on later in the day, so I could. Then I remembered HBO wasn't set to premiere this movie for some time yet. HBO does this late nights. Sometimes they will air a movie they are set to premiere a month or two from then. I saw The Ring like this late one night. I love Milla Jovovich, so I decided to stay up until almost 6am to watch it. Good movie. Lots of action in it. Milla is gorgeous. Last night, I also watched the Saturday night premiere on Starz of Shall we dance, and I have review of this film up on my review blog.The movie is definitely a waste of time though if you ask me. If you want to know why, head on over here.
Speaking of reviews, my two latest book reviews are up. Over on Romance Divas, my review of an e-book from Linden Bay Romance, Setting Him Free is up. You can read my review here. I really enjoyed this e-book, and I gave it five out of five kisses. My second book review is over on the Erotic Romance Reviews for Women site, and it is for Bad Temptation from Chippewa Publishing. My review of this book wasn't as favorable. It has a promising plot, but I felt the story was more told than shown. I gave it 2 out of 5 shoes. You can read my review here.
On the writing front, I was finally able to type in the pages I had written earlier in the week before my computer crashed in my one WIP. Came up with just a bit over of 1,000 words, and things seem to be moving along nicely on that front. I'm hoping to work some more on it later, and I think some time this week if all goes well and doesn't go to crazy I might try to give For Hire one last look before submitting it off somewhere. I definitely want it out by the end of the month.
Have a great day everyone!
166. Saturday Ramblings
Well, I had one of those bang my head against the walls this morning. My computer did the same exact thing it did the other day again, and I thought I would need to do another full restore. I was not happy. After cursing a few things including my computer, viruses, Window XP, I looked into what I could do on my computer. Since it at least opened to the desktop, I was able to run the task manager and run something off CD. I knew all i needed to restore the one corrupted file.
Well, I ran my XP SP2 CD, and it located that the file was corrupted, and reinstalled it within under ten minutes. Computer turned on, and all is well. I think I know what caused the problem too. The other day I had joined a traffic exchange to promote my review blog. I had done everything they asked to set myself up, and nothing had gone through yet. The other night when I was visiting this site, a strange window popped up. The next day my computer had the problems. Last night, the same thing happened, and today I had problems. Suffice to say, I won't be going through that site again. I won't link to it, but in case anyone was wondering, the site was 321hits.com. It might not have been the site, but the window only popped up when I was on there site, so it is possible. figure a heads up wouldn't hurt.
Saving myself from a restore today was good. I would not have been happy at all. Tonight, I plan to watch Shall We Dance on Starz, and I'll probably have a review of that up on my review shortly thereafter. Last night, I caught the premiere for Threshold. I hadn't heard of the show before yesterday, but I really enjoyed it. I have a small review of it on my review blog if anyone is interested in reading the rest of my thoughts on that.
I hope things start to settle down soon. Between my starting to work with media village, and all the computer problems this week, the only writing I've been able to do since Wednesday has been for my review blog. I'm hoping to change that sometime this week. We'll have to see how things go. I'm worried about shutting down my computer and not having it start up again. I think I'm okay now though. Cross fingers!
Have a great day everyone!
165. Setting things back to right
I worked long into the night yesterday getting my computer back to normal. Reinstalling programs, transferring my music files off of CD's and back onto my hard drive. I worked until about 3am, and I think I have most of it back. I did find the old bookmarks file I had saved back in January, so I just lost the bookmarks I've saved since. Which wasn't that much. I had links saved for years and the sites still worked, so I was upset that I lost most of them. I was happy to find the file hiding on my secondary hard drive.
Besides working on the computer, I was also busy setting up my forums over at Media Village. My topics are up now! So if you're a fan of Lost, The OC or Grey's Anatomy hop on over to the drama forum to talk about the shows with me. There are still a few things to work out with the forum, but my topics are ready to go, and I'm hoping my blog on that site is up by Monday at some point.
Last night was the second episode of The OC, and I have a full recap and review over at One Couch Critic. For some reason, I also thought ER premiered last night, but that looks to be set for next week. I was disappointed I had to wait another week, but next week seems to be the next big premiere week. Lost, Invasion, ER, and Surface all look to be good. I've also become interested in Vegas. Brother watches every week, and I caught a few episodes last season, including the finale, so I'm probably going to check things out.
With the computer crashing, I didn't get around to writing anything other than my OC review last night. Today was the deadline for the Absolute Write submission call, and I never got around to it with everything going on with Media Village and my fiction WIP's. I couldn't help it though. Thanks for the suggestions on my bringing in the ghost POV into my WIP. I haven't gotten to that scene yet. It is coming up soon, so I'll have to see what ends up working.
Hope you're all well. Have a great night everyone.
164. Just a quick note
I woke up this morning to a complete computer crash. My computer wouldn't go past the start up screen no matter what I tried. I'm a computer geek, and I tried all I knew how to do. this resulted in me doing a complete system restore. Luckily, all I lost was all my bookmarked sites in my browser. All of my writing and other important files are backed up to CD. I thought my bookmarks had been bookmarked a few months ago, but they weren't I still might find them on one of my CD's, but I don't think so.
Good news is I was given the okay to go ahead with my forums, and my blog on the mediavillage site should be set up soon as well. I'll be working on those in the coming days, and I'll post links to everything when it goes live.
More tomorrow. I still have more work to do on the computer, and tonight I have two shows to watch and review as well. Have a great day everyone.
163. Lazy Hump Day
I'm dragging a bit today. I spent a couple of hours on my phone today with one of my best friends, and after I came back online, I was totally unmotivated to do anything. I'm still waiting to hear on things job wise. Noticed a few changes over on the site, so I'm just waiting while things get all straightened out. Last night, I wrote another page in my WIP. Another scene that just popped out of my head. My paranormal is relatively unplotted. I'm one of those writer's that flies by the seat of her pants, and with this story it is even more evident. I'm enjoying it though. I'm trying to figure out how to jump to the other character's head for a scene or two. Since that hasn't happened and he is a ghost, I'm quite not sure how to do that or if I even can. I want to though. HMM ... wait I just might have had an idea of how to do it sitting here. Any suggestions or thoughts though would be great!
Last night was a big TV night. On FOX, I watched the premiere of Bones, and then I switched over to the WB network for another series premiere, Supernatural. Both shows that I enjoyed. I see some are criticizing both shows today, but I enjoyed them both. For my review of last night's episode of Bones go here, and for review of Supernatural hop on over to here. I also have a review of last night's episode of the Real World, as always, and that can be found here. Tonight is So You Think You Can Dance, and the top eight are battling it out. It's really getting down to the wire now. The competition is certainly heating up. I can't wait to see what happens next.
When I came online this afternoon, I read the news that Britney Spears had finally given birth. She had a baby boy this afternoon. I had been mildly interested in this. I had been a fan of her music, but since she isn't as visible now I haven't kept up with her much. I think she will make a wonderful mother though. She seems like she would. I had been amused in the past by the Fetus Spears blog found here. Just went to check it out, and it seems the fetus, now baby, is already back to his blogging duties online!
I'm off! I hope you have a wonderful evening everyone.
162. Tuesday Ramblings
Yesterday was certainly a very hectic day for me. Today is a bit calmer. I’m setting things into motion, and set up is always more time consuming than maintaining something. Once you have things set, you develop a routine, and that routine will make things run smoothly with hopefully not as much stress. I’m crossing my fingers on that one. Most of my promotion for my forums and the like will go through my review blog. I’ve been promoting that heavily, and I’ll continue to do so. Half of the shows I plan to cover haven’t even started their seasons yet, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens when they do.
Yesterday, I was so exhausted though. I was more mentally tired than physically. I kept going though because I knew I wanted to get some things done before the forums are actually up. Then once they are, I know it’ll take another day of setting them up with the thread topics on each forum.
On the fiction-writing front, I wrote two pages by hand last night. I sat down and just began to write, and the words were flowing well. I was happy, and now all I have to do is take the two pages from last night and the half page from the night before and type them into my WIP. I’m hoping to do that after I finish this blog post.
A lot of what I wrote was internal dialogue of the main character. I’m almost 5,000 words into the story, and the other half of the romance has just made his first appearance. It’s a ghost story, and he’s made his presence known, but last night was the first time Drew saw him. Now I need to add in some details and some actions. I noted this while I was writing last night. I think so much of my writing ends up being internal. I always worry it is too much internal. I’m definitely working on that though.
Tonight is a big TV night with a lot of shows premiering or starting their new seasons. I’ll be watching Bones and Supernatural. Also possibly reviewing, so I’ll let you know which of the shows I recap and review over on my review blog in my post tomorrow. Tonight is also another episode of the Real World, so I’ll be reviewing that as usual. Right now, I’m off.
Have a great day everyone.
161. Good news!
A very busy day! Late last night, I received some good news in my email. I had been waiting to hear on the job I had spoken about last week here in my blog. I’m impatient, and even though they mentioned things might not be set up until this week, I was still hoping to hear something sooner. Well, I heard back with an agreement which I readily accepted after going over the numbers in my head and with my brother, who knows numbers quite well because he’s been a salesman in the past. We sat down and discussed it, and he told me to take it. I had planned to already, but he said it looked like a wonderful opportunity.
The email came with odd timing because my horoscope for Sunday spoke of a pending career opportunity that will be quite positive for me. Well, I believe it is safe for me to speak about my new position at this time. I heard back this morning, and my parts of the site should be up this week at some point, as early as tomorrow possibly. The site I will be working for is called Media Village. It is an up and coming media site with a focus on television. The site already has a decent traffic
The site has news, blogs and forums targeted to specific shows. My position will be as blogger and forum leader, in charge of the running of three to four forums. At this time, it looks like my forums will be on The OC, Real World/Road Rules, and Lost. I might also have a forum for Grey’s Anatomy. My blogs will be the reviews and recaps that now appear on my blog One Couch Critic and any additional posts I may make covering TV and entertainment news of the day.
I am quite excited about this opportunity, and I think it could be the start of something really positive when it comes to my nonfiction-writing career. I will let everyone know here when my forums are up and running. My forums aren’t the only ones that will be on the board; so make sure to check the site out once everything is set.
Over on my review blog, I have a book review up of Seeing Red by Jill Shalvis. I really enjoyed this book, so head on over to my review blog to check out my review on this May 2005 release. I also was able to get a bit of work done on one of WIP's last night, but everything is so crazed right now, I'm trying to get everything done with my new job at the moment.
Hope everyone is well! Have a wonderful evening.
160. Are you ready for some football?
My football team is about to lose. With the start of the fall season and September, we have the return of football. This year’s season started this past Thursday, but it doesn’t feel like football to me if it isn’t played on a Sunday. I woke up early, and plopped myself down in front of the television set, just like a bunch of other football fanatics across the country did. I have three favorite teams - my local area Arizona Cardinals, the Indianapolis Colts and the St. Louis Rams.
Arizona is playing on television now, and the game started out good, but it is ending in a blowout, and it is my team getting blown out! I’m the type of football fan that will scream and curse at the screen, as well cheer my team on. Indianapolis is the night game, and St Louis is playing now but not on TV here. I even participate in a couple of fantasy football games online. Anyone else out there football fans? I'm not big on college, but the pros got me. If so, what are your favorites? If football isn't your passion, then what sport is?
On the writing, front, I’ve been keeping fairly busy. Having your own review site isn’t easy, but I’m willing to work at it because I think in the end it will pay off for me. I’m looking at different ways to promote, and I’m quite happy with the results so far. I’m up to close to 1100 hits. That’s in just a little bit over a week. Not bad for a new site.
With the fall season getting really in full swing this week and next, I’ll have more work to do there, but I see it this way when it comes to television shows – I watch them anyway! I won’t watch a show I don’t enjoy to just a review it. I started to watch Reunion this week, and it just didn’t grab me at all! I turned it off. Reviewing shows I watch adds at most thirty minutes to an hour of writing time.
Fiction wise, I’m getting back into that as well. I wrote a short fan fiction drabble that I posted to my fiction blog last night, and it’s received some positive feedback. That’s why I love about fan fiction. The feedback is immediate. I’m still pondering my short. I really want to get that out soon. My focus just hasn’t been on my fiction this week, but I do plan on changing that. I’ve made a personal goal challenge of 5,000 fiction words this month. I’m calling it a mini-lunacy. Last month, I wrote 10,000, 5,000 should be doable.
Last night, I was sitting at my desk when I realized the date. It was just after midnight, and I sat here and reflected. I won’t go into detail about this date. Suffice to say, September 11th, 2001 has never been far from my thoughts. I may not live in the area, but my heart broke with the tragedy, just as my heart broke with the recent tragedy. Today while surfing through Blogexplosion, I found a post telling of one person’s experience on this day four years ago. We shall never forget – just as we will never forget the victims of this most recent tragedy either.
NOTE:I'm not sure where my mind was earlier because I somehow posted this to my fiction blog instead, and I just now noticed. Maybe Blogger messed up! Well, its here now! I really hope you had a great day everyone.
159. And you say ...
It's funny how you can hear a song, and it takes you back to an earlier time. A time where things might have been just a little bit simpler, a time where you were a much different person than you are. Music seems to be such a big part of my life, and it always has been. I have songs that I relate to time periods in my life, and if I hear them I'm taken back to that time, and sometimes it makes me a bit melancholy because so much has changed since those times. I downloaded this one song a couple of weeks back, Stay by Lisa Loeb, and I finally got around to burning it to CD in the last day or so, and when it began to play I was taken back to 1994. I was a freshman in high school, and I was seeing this guy I met there. Our whole relationship was a bit topsy-turvy, and we only lasted about two years. He still emails or calls here from time to time. For all I know, he might read this blog or stumble across it sometime.
I'm such a different person than I was back then. I was young and stupid. I was denying things about myself that everyone else saw. I was not writing because I had allowed a high school teacher get under my skin when he told me I couldn't write. At that point in high school, writing was all I wanted to do with my life. I stopped though, and it wasn't until after college that I tried again. That was in 2000, and I've been writing ever since. I've been slow to get my name out there, but it is starting to happen. I'm even dealing with my writing differently than I did five years ago.
I've just changed so much. I keep changing. I've said in here change is inevitable. Change is also constant. Each and everyday you learn something new about the world around you. You learn and you grow, no matter your age. Change never stops, and you really don't want it to because change is also what makes things interesting. It keeps you on your toes. Sure, some changes are harder than others, but they are good too. Probably not when they are in the process of happening, but later on? When you look back at the change that occurred, all the hurt and pain that came along with whatever changed was worth it.
I'm happy with the person I am now, but I know that the person I am now won't be the person I am a year from now or possibly even a month from now. You never know when things may change. People may come and go in your life. You may change things you do in your life. No matter what brings about those changes, things will change - whether you like it or not.
Hope you're all well. Have a great Saturday!
158. Monthly goal and TV ramblings
I’ve been up for almost five hours, and I went to bed at 3:30 last night. This to me is just shocking. This is the woman usually in bed with the sunrise, and waking up past noon every day. I even told my brother I couldn’t remember the last time I woke up and was ready to begin my day before 11am. Definitely different, and it seems I am getting more done.
Things aren’t as stressful this week as they were last week. I’m working steadily on my review blog, and things seem to be falling back into place. I’m hoping to get back into the fiction side of things sometime this weekend. I know I said that last weekend, but some things came up last weekend that just made it impossible for me to focus.
Plus, the beginning of the month is always tough for me physically, so I usually have problems being creative then. However, I am setting a goal for the month of 5,000 fiction words for September. This is about half of what I wrote last month, but it is still a good goal, and I have more on my plate nonfiction wise this month. Since I write mostly short fiction I should be able to get some good stuff done.
Last night, we had football. New England beat Oakland. We also had the premiere of The OC. My review of the premiere episode is up on my review blog if you want to hop on over and take a look. Following the premiere of The OC, the series premiere of Reunion aired. I turned it off within 20 minutes. It just didn’t grab me. It seemed like 24 – OC style, and I’m not sure how long it will last. The reviews are mixed. People either loved it or hated it. FOX is even repeating it tonight following the benefit concert. We’ll have to how that goes this season.
A good many of the new shows are premiering next week. I’m looking forward to checking out Bones, Surface and Supernatural. Invasion is also on my list, but that show doesn’t premiere until the 21st, in a time slot following Lost. There has been some buzz with Invasion because in the series premiere we have a fictional Hurricane hitting Florida, and there is some concern it might hit a bit too close to home for some viewers. Awful timing. I’m still looking forward to the show though. What new shows are you looking forward to?
Hope you’re all well. Tried to post this earlier, but Blogger went down for maintenance on me. Have a great day everyone!
157. Thoughts from the news
A lot is happening in the world today. Courtesy of Alison Kent's blog, we have a link to a post made on Radio Blogger on September 7th. If what is stated in the radio interview is true, the Red Cross is getting the blame that isn’t necessary. They weren’t allowed into the area to help those that desperately needed the help immediately following the tragedy. The division of Homeland Security stopped them.
I don’t even know if I can express how this makes me feel. The reason given for them not being allowed into the area to deliver goods to the Superdome and elsewhere in the city was that if they did come in, the people still there would never want to leave. So, let me get this right. Allow thousands upon thousands of people starve, in hopes this will get them to leave? That’s what it sounds like to me, and that just upsets me.
Other stories coming out of the area include this from Brian Williams’ blog over at MSNBC, in which he talks about something new happening in the area, censorship of the press. One scene described of a guard officer pointing her gun at some members of the media. Sounds definitely like a scary situation. The press has been on top of this story since the tragedy began. Many have been in the area covering the tragedy, and even assisting when they can. Stopping them from doing so just seems so very wrong to me. It is censorship plain and simple.
In news unrelated to Katrina, I’ve also been following the news coming out of California about the bill passing through the assembly and senate that would make gay marriages legal in that state. The bill is now being sent to Gov. Arnold, but it is not clear if he will sign it into law. Even if he does, the law will have a battle to fight. As a writer of gay fiction, I am quite interested in the outcome of this. If the bill does become law, it could mean something huge for the GLBT community. As I’ve stated in the past when the RWA had its definition of romance mess, love is love. It doesn’t matter if it is a man and a woman, two men or two women. It’s the feelings there, and not the body parts used. I really hope this passes, and other states soon follow. California is quite influential when it comes to things of this nature due to its size.
In personal news, my review of last night’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance is up on my review blog. I’ve also included a song list since so many viewers miss the songs when the shows air, and are always asking for them afterwards. Tonight is the season premiere of The O.C. I will be watching, and I’ve heard some of the buzz surrounding the episode already. Some good, and some not so good, so I am definitely looking forward to watching.
The football season also gets underway tonight, and I am excited for that as well. I’m a football nut, and I even have a fantasy football team with my brother. We take our team way too seriously, but it is all in good fun.
Still haven’t much time to work on my fiction, but I did do another edit of my completed short last night. It needed to be done. One of the members of my critique group made some good suggestions, and I went through and fixed a few problem areas. One more read through and I think I will send it off.
Hope you have a great day everyone!
156. Hump day ramblings
My father just walked in the door. He had three teeth pulled today. He's the stoic "I'm fine" type, but he is getting up there in age, and having three teeth pulled is certainly no picnic. At the age of seventy-nine, eighty in December, he still works a full time job, and he is in pretty good health for his age. I'm lucky to have my father still living. So many have their lost their dads. My mother passed on ten years. There has been so much loss of life in the last week in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
I've finally stopped watching 24/7 coverage on Katrina. There isn't much I can do by just watching the coverage. The only way you can help is by taking action. Donating your time, money or other items. I'm still pondering my contribution to Absolute Writer's submission call for their book to raise money for the tragedy. I haven't been able to put my thoughts together enough to write something proper for submission yet. I have a basic idea, but the rest is being elusive.
I've also been putting in a considerable amount of time promoting and setting up my review site. Things are going well, and once things are established and settled with the shows I'm reviewing and other items, then things should be easier to run. Speaking on my review blog, my review of last night's Real World episode is up on my blog now if you wanted to take a look at it.
I want to thank all those that congratulated me on my little news yesterday. The talks are still in the preliminary stages, and the site is still gearing up for the fall season, so it might take a bit of time to get things up and running. So I'll need to be patient. I'll definitely keep you posted on developments when I know more.
With all this work on my nonfiction projects, my fiction writing seems to suffering a bit. I know its because I'm so busy with writing other material, so I'm not too worried right now. I know I'll pick things right back up. July was a bit like this, and August I had the best fiction writing month ever. I just need to take things one day at a time. The month is still young, and I haven't been feeling the best physically the last few days either. I'm sure by next week things will be better. That's just how it goes the start of every month.
I hope you're all doing well. Have a great Wednesday everyone.
155. A potpourri
Wow I have a lot going on in my head today here. I know a lot of bloggers write entries that focus on one topic, and then write another the same on another topic. I like getting it all out in one sitting. First off, let's start with some good news on the personal front. I can't go into too many of the details yet, but last night I emailed applying for a job posting I saw on one of the job sites. I heard back from them almost immediately, and I'm in discussion with them right now to do something with their site. The site is an up and coming media site with blogging and forums, and this would fall in line with my review blog One Couch Critic. I'm really glad I took the time to start up my blog last week. It looks like it might just pay off for me. In just the short amount of time it has been up, I'm nearing 400 hits, and the fall season hasn't really started yet. Once it does, I'm sure I'll get hits from my promotional activities in some of the fan based sites for the shows I plan to review. This would be a paying position as well. I'll be sure to let you know more details when I can.
Last night, I bought the DVD for Pump up the Volume, a review of the movie is on my review blog here. The movie tells the story of one teenage boy living a double life. By day, a normal high school student, and by night a raunchy disc jockey telling teenagers of one small town and later on the nation to steal the air.
Someone left me an interesting comment on my blogcritics post of this review mentioning that today's bloggers are doing just what this pirate radio host was telling the world to do. With blogs, people are speaking up and making their opinions heard. There is no control on blog contents. It is just you and your audience. Some have a limited audience, and some bloggers have a huge number of visitors daily. If you want more traffic to your blog, you can join traffic exchange sites such as Blogexplosion and Blogclicker.
With the creation of the blog and the expansion of the blogosphere, more and more voices are heard. News is even being spread by those with a blog now. An example of this would be with the recent tragedy with Hurricane Katrina, bloggers reported events as they happened in the region. They became the source of news. Some bloggers have no problem talking hard and making their opinions known. It is just what Happy Harry talked about in this movie made so many years ago. it is funny how a movie made so many years can still be fitting in today's society.
Speaking of news and Hurricane Katrina, I was once angered by the coverage. The news broke last night about a statement made by Barbara Bush when visiting the Astrodome recently.
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."Yes, this is true. Most of those left behind in NO were poor, but I can honestly tell you they would just as happy in their own homes living their lives as they were prior to Hurricane Katrina. They wouldn't want to be in the state they are now. This tragedy is affecting a great many people. One of my own friends that lives in the Baton Rouge area is affected by this, and she is now being asked to leave her home for an unrelated circumstance. Finding another place to live in a city that is overcrowded with those from NO and other cities affected won't be easy. I know it seems I discuss this every single day, but this story is ever changing. Even here in Arizona we are effected. Gas prices have skyrocketed here in the last week, and now we are averaging $3.12 a gallon, with some stations selling gas as high as $3.19.
Lastly, This morning I woke up to the news that Bob Denver had died. This immediately saddened me. I had been a fan of Gilligan's Island for quite some time, and his passing just makes me want to cry. May he rest in peace.
Have a great day everyone.
154. More on Hurricane Katrina
I usually don't make many rants in my blog. I usually don't get heated enough to say much of anything. Some have told me even my rants aren't all that ranty because I somehow figure out how to rant while trying not to offend anybody. As I came online and started surfing around my normally read blogs, I'm not the only ranting on the subject of Hurricane Katrina - Cece, Monica and Kate all have posts as well.
As we all know, I'm a known insomniac, and since there isn't much on at 2am in the morning, I put on the early early morning news shows coming from the east coast last night. On CNN, it was daybreak, and the question was being asked if those that suffered from Hurricane Katrina should receive the same benefit package as those that suffered through 9/11. The tragedies are very different, but the same. With both we've had a tremendous loss of life, and one entire city is gone now. Some of the emails sent in said no they don't deserve the same benefits because the mayor and its residents chose to live in the city of New Orleans knowing that they were under sea level and that if a storm hit them this would happen. They chose to not evacuate when they could have.
New Orleans is a city that is over 300 years old. It has a rich history, and people have always lived there. I don't think by choosing to live in the city means they don't deserve our help now. That is almost saying that those that choose to live in California that is quite earthquake prone, and one earthquake can come with no warning and wipe out Southern California, shouldn't be helped. They talk about "the big one" coming someday, and when it does the loss of life there will probably surpass what has happened here. As a former resident of Southern California, I'm quite used to talk on the subject.
This is a natural disaster, and with any natural disaster comes devastation and loss of life. People saying they shouldn't receive assistance because they chose to not evacuate sort of made me think in the case of a rape victim asking for it because she wore a skirt that was just a bit too high. Some couldn't evacuate. They were poor or unable physically to do so. If they could have, they would have. Those that could leave, did leave.
On FOX this morning, they had two brother's and their dog that didn't evacuate. The two were obviously ill, one having asthma problems and the other with massive swelling of the legs. Their dog was with them, and they told a story of how some had suggested shooting their dog so they could be taken from the city. That idea just saddens and angers me. Here we have two men, not in good health, but wanting to stay because they are unable to leave and not wanting to lose their dog in the process. They have since been evacuated, but so much has happened. I'm sure there are more stories than just this one.
In this time of need, we need to come together to help others. It shouldn't be a matter of they shouldn't have stayed or lived there in the first place. The fact is they did live there, and now many are homeless. Many have lost their lives. I've heard of many states stepping up to help. Texas being the first to house refugees from this storm. My own state of Arizona has also now stepped up. They are taking in those affected by the storm in both Phoenix and Tuscon. Some of those coming here will probably relocate to this state. Instead of pointing the fingers of blame at this person or that one, we need to help those that need it right now. They need help now. Not days from now, weeks from now or months from now. They need assistance now, and they will continue to need that same assistance for the foreseeable future.
My prayers are still with those affected, and I hope everyone is safe.
153. Good news and bits from the blogosphere
First off, yesterday I mentioned that my essay A Slasher's Journey would be appearing in the next issue of Forbidden Fruit Magazine. That issue was made available overnight, and my essay is part of perspectives, a look at gay fiction. I offer the writer's perspective, and you can read my article here. Make sure to check out the rest of the magazine too!
As some of you might recall, during the month of August I joined in the month long Evolunacy challenge over at Evolution. My goal for the month was 10,000 fiction words. A goal successfully completed, and there is my award for doing so. I'm not sure if I can do 10,000 words this month. Writing so much drained me a bit, but the fact is I know I can do it, and in the time to come I know I'll write more and more, and 10,000 fiction word months will be the norm. That combined with my nonfiction total for the month, I wrote over 25,000 words total.
In my blog hopping today, I found a link to an article posted by HelenKay. The article states Anne Rice's opinion about the tragedy in New Orleans, and I had been wondering what she thought. I used to be a huge fan of her books. I haven't read her in awhile, but as a teenager I read everything. My favorite book of hers probably being The Witching Hour
Here is a snippet of what she said:
They will rebuild as they have after storms of the past; and they will stay in New Orleans because it is where they have always lived, where their mothers and their fathers lived, where their churches were built by their ancestors, where their family graves carry names that go back 200 years. They will stay in New Orleans where they can enjoy a sweetness of family life that other communities lost long ago.The whole editorial is worth a read, but that small portion gives you an idea of her feelings on the subject. I've seen so many speak up in anger over this situation. I've seen opinions thrown around. I don't think the country failed NOLA, but it shouldn't have taken so long for those that needed assistance to receive it. Now help is arriving, and NOLA is now mostly empty. It still took five days for that to happen.
But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.
Yes, I do believe they will rebuild this amazing city, and I hope to someday visit. I've always wanted to, but I haven't been fortunate enough to do so. I wish I had been before this catastrophic hit the area, but it did. Thousands are dead, and thousands, possibly even millions, are without homes now. It breaks my heart to see the tragedy, and I'm now forcing myself away from the television and focus on other things.
However, there is good in all of this. People are stepping up. Celebrities and companies are donating heavily to the cause. I just learned from a link on Sylvia Day's blog that Amazon.com has collected nearly eight million dollars. Countries that normally would be receiving aid from the US in times of tragedy around the world are now assisting us with our tragedy. Countries that we don't particularly have the best of relations with, such as Cuba, are putting aside those differences and assisting us now with Hurricane Katrina relief. It makes my heart feel just a bit better seeing this, but there is still so much more needed. This is probably the worst natural disaster to hit our country in our history. It is heart breaking, but the response in some cases is uplifting.
Have a great Sunday everyone.
152. Saturday ramblings
First off, I'd like to start off with another small announcement. I just heard back on a submission that I had sent out about 5 weeks ago now, and I have good news to report. My essay, A slasher's journey, will appear in the September issue of Forbidden Fruit Magazine. I'm not talking about how to slash someone to bits either! I will definitely let you know when it is up.
Right now I'm pondering a submission to a submission call I just learned about over at Paperback Writer. It is for a good cause, and I definitely have a piece in mind that will fit one of the categories. I just need to gather my thoughts, and then write it. Still need to write my two book reviews this weekend as well, so I'll be busy.
My mind has been so jumbled with all the news coverage that is happening. I have turned the TV off more, but it seems to be everywhere. News stories are all over the internet, and personal stories are also out there. Charlotte Dillon has reported in, and she is safe with her family in Arkansas. I know I've been concerned, as have others. Her home did receive some flooding, but exact damage right now doesn't appear to be known.
I've heard of so many helping in this time of need. Many celebrities are chipping in and helping when they can. I just heard John Grisham is donating five million to Katrina Relief. I applaud him and many others that have helped in any way they can. If you can afford to help those in time of need I still urge to do so.
Tonight is Saturday premiere night, and on HBO we have a Shark Tale. I plan to watch that. A Hilary Duff movie is on the other network we have, but I am not much of a fan of her acting. I've heard some good things about Shark Tale, so it should hopefully be a fun watch. I'm hoping sometime this weekend to get back to work fiction wise. So much happening in the world and my nonfiction pursuits are definitely taking up my time.
Have a great Saturday everyone!
151. Busy day and an announcement
The last twenty-four hours have been busy as hell for me. I'm not getting much writing done, but I am working on things that are writing related, and that are time consuming. For the past few weeks, I'd been pondering a home for my reviews and possibly expanding my reviews once the fall season got underway. I review a number of things for various different sites, but I don't have one central location for all my reviews, which could be used as a sample of my writing. Having one place where everything is makes it easier to look for work as I've heard because you can send the editor or publisher you're applying with straight to a central site that is full of clips.
So I'd been pondering this, and with it hitting September, this means the new television season is about to get underway. Some shows are already premiering, so yesterday I decided to make my focus getting a place ready to post my reviews. I plan to review a number of television shows and also include reviews of movies, books, and music releases. This will include content that is posted elsewhere plus original content only found on that site.
It probably shouldn't have taking as long to set up as it did. I tried a few different blog templates, and none of them were cooperating with me. I've mentioned my hate for HTML in the past. Yesterday, my hate for it only grew. Once setting on a template, it them came time to submit it to search engines. After a few small changes today, I'm now ready to formally announce my new review blog: One Couch Critic. At this time I plan to recap and review Lost, The O.C., Grey's Anatomy, and ER. I'll also take a look at new shows when they premiere and give my thoughts on those.
Setting up something new is some time consuming. Once you have it set into motion, it gets easier, but the last twenty-four hours have given me a headache. Creating the site needed to be done, and I'm the type of person that wants it all done now, and not a little bit at a time. Sure, I'll make small additions and changes, but I want the majority of the work done as soon as I can. I think having a central place for my reviews that isn't just a link to somewhere else will be a good tool for me. Once this blog became more of a daily blog for me, I felt weird posting the exact text of my reviews here. I will continue to link things on here, but those links will now go to my own blog once new reviews are up.
This weekend I have to write up my two assigned reviews. I'm about halfway through my second review book now, and all I need to do is write up my review on the first one. I also need to get back to work on my WIP's this weekend. i might join in one of the fiction challenges happening over at Evolution this weekend to get back into the swing of things. Once things are settled with my nonfiction, I should be able to get right back into things fiction wise.
Have a great day everyone!
150. Helping out those affected by Hurricane Katrina
For the past several days, the eyes of Americans across the country and those around the world have been trained on the news coverage of the devastation wrecked by Hurricane Katrina. Once the storm passed, New Orleans being spared a direct hit, the city looked to be in the clear. However, with the breaking of levees in the area, water has flowed into the city. Now 80% of the city is underwater. There is concern that the city will never be the same. Some have said it will take five years for the city to be rebuilt, if it is rebuilt at all. With New Orleans being located below sea level, it is being wondered if the city should be rebuilt.
My own attention this week has been focused on the news coverage. I find myself watching on in sadness long after the time I should be in bed sleep. The stories are heartbreaking and I can only watch as the news unfolds. So much is happening in the region. So many have lost their homes and there is a tremendous loss of life. It is still unknown just how many have lost their lives because so much of the city is underwater. The water reaches rooftops in some cases.
Today across the blogosphere, bloggers are asking for Hurricane Katrina flood aid as part of a Hurricane Katrina Blog Relief Day. As one of the bloggers taking part in this effort, I ask you to call or visit the American Red Cross website and make a donation. Twenty-one million has already reportedly been donated to the Red Cross already, but more is needed. When you make your donation, please state it is meant to go directly to Hurricane Katrina relief.
There are so many stories coming out of the region, and so many are stepping up to help. One such story coming out of my own little corner of the blogosphere with one author Larissa Ione, a resident of Gulf port, Mississippi. She evacuated over the weekend, and now her home has been destroyed. Friends of the author have gathered together and are looking to assist her in her time of need. There are so many stories though. The news is full of stories of loss. There are so many that are in need of assistance in this time.
Musicians are even gathering together to help out as well. Concerts are scheduled to air on NBC and MTV in the coming weeks. Concerts have been held in the past as well for other tragedies, such as 9/11 and the Tsunami. This Friday on NBC an hour long commercial free concert will air with country singer Tim McGraw, Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis. All three entertainers are from the Louisiana area. MTV is also set to air a concert for Hurricane Katrina relief of September 10th. Entertainers such as Green Day, Alicia Keys, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews Band are set perform on this show. The concert will also be simulcast to VH1 and CMT.
Everyone wants to help in any way they can. Here at Blogcritics a relief fund ha also been established. There are so many ways one can help those affected by the tragedy. To learn of other ways to help visit this site. Together we can help those in this time of great sadness for our country. This is one of the worst natural disaster's in our county's history. The devastation is heartbreaking, and I hope in the time to come things do improve.